Quote Originally Posted by vt_maverick View Post
Lol - I think if I did a lot of crawling I would have strongly considered staying with the auto for just that reason. But since I do 90-95% street driving with a few trips in the deep sand each summer it's a much better choice. I also think the extremely low gearing in 1st and 2nd will come in handy when it snows - I can basically use those gears like the "Winter Mode" on the automatic but with more control.
I think you might have the winter logic idea a bit off? You don't use lower gears for snow/ice. You use higher gears to start to reduce torque output on slippery surfaces. That's what winter mode does. It starts you automatically in third gear instead of first. You use lower gears for more torque application on grippy surfaces facing steep grade climbs, and for pulling stumps out of the ground. I hope this helps.